2014 2nd Congressional District Campaign

Raye boasts POS poll showing big lead

Former Republican Senate President Kevin Raye released a poll Thursday night that shows the two-time contender for Maine’s 2nd Congressional District with a strong lead over his primary and would-be general election opponents.

According to Public Opinion Strategies’ survey of 310 likely Republican primary voters, Raye has a 26-point lead over former State Treasurer Bruce Poliquin.

Raye was the choice candidate of 45 percent of voters, while 19 percent would vote for Poliquin and 5 percent would vote for Blaine Richardson, who finished runner up in the GOP primary in 2012.

The general election survey of 400 likely voters carries a margin of error of 4.9 percent.

According to Raye’s poll, Poliquin does not lead either of the Democratic nominees in a hypothetical match-up.

“Kevin Raye is clearly a strong candidate with the voters of the Second Congressional District of Maine,” said pollster Glen Bolger, of POS, according to a press release distributed by Raye’s campaign. “He has sizable leads in both the primary and the general election.”

In terms of name recognition, the poll found Raye has 79 percent name ID, with 45 percent favorable and only 2 percent unfavorable. Poliquin’s name ID measured at 68 percent, with 29 percent favorable and 9 percent unfavorable.

The general election survey found both Raye and Poliquin have higher name recognition and favorability ratings than either Cain or Jackson.

Cain’s name recognition came in at 42 percent, with 15 percent favorable and 10 percent unfavorable, while Jackson’s came in at 27 percent, with 11 percent favorable and 5 percent unfavorable.

The Raye campaign declined to provide The Maine Wire with the full poll results, questions and cross-tabulations. However, a spokeswoman for the campaign said in an email that the poll was weighted for an accurate measure in terms of demographics, including geography, gender, age and party ID. “This is the same polling firm that has been used by Governor LePage, Senator Snowe, Senator Rand Paul and others,” she said.

Seriously? A poll of 310 people….state senate races have larger sample sizes! And no one believes that Kevin Raye only has 2% of Republicans who are unfavorable to him. Seriously? He was barely able to get 51% against Blaine Richardson last November in his 3rd attempt running for this seat. That just doesn’t pass the common sense test. All of the sudden the 49% of voters who didn’t vote for Raye or vote at all with him as an option becomes only 2%? That is not possible and clearly Kevin is up to his old tricks again.